This was the first time I had been entrusted with the task of removing staples, but since I’d removed stitches a few times I figured I could cope with this. Thirty of them. Sheesh.
My main concern was to make sure this man was not going to suffer any additional discomfort or pain, so I worked carefully and chatted to him as I went.
I’ve worked with terminally ill patients before, in a palliative setting, not in a treatment room dealing with wounds. This man was one of the most appreciative and encouraging patients I had met, still valuing health professionals even although his illness was not curable and had not responded to surgery and treatment.
He was smiling and cheerful, and talking about his plans for the next few weeks. And thanking me for doing a good job.
Many of my colleagues find these situations almost too much to bear, and feel hopeless, but it’s at times such as these that I really see the Lord’s redemption at work.

BXVI’s Deus Caritas Est is an absolute cracker, a veritable ‘must read’, and available here. Before you go, thought, here’s an excerpt:

‘He has loved us first and he continues to do so; we too, then, can respond with love. God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has ‘loved us first,’ love can also blossom as a response within us.’

We notice here that Jesus asks Simon Peter the same question three times, but it’s actually only the exact same question in the English translation because in the original Greek text there are 3 different words that translate as “love”. So here it looks like the same question is asked in the same way a parent does to a child when they’re not convinced their child is taking on board what’s asked of them.
But actually, there is eros (sensual/erotic love between lovers in the senses and emotions), then there is philia, which is more of a liking, admiring and devotion to parents, an heroic figure or for music, for example, and then there is agape, which is unconditional, self-sacrificing love. Agape is something very different from the previous two, because it means loving someone in spite of their actions and behaviour, and not for profit or personal gain.
What’s happening in the scripture here only makes sense in the original Greek because the first time Jesus asks the question he’s saying, “Peter, do you have agape love for me” and Simon Peter replies by saying he has “Yes Lord, I have Philia love for you”. So he’s saying he can’t make the sacrifice Jesus demands, but he likes and admires Jesus. The second time Jesus asks Simon Peter if he has agape love for him, Simon Peter says yet again that he has philia love for Jesus.The third time Jesus asks Simon Peter whether he has philia love for him, as he knows he cannot press Simon Peter any more and humiliate him when he feels he has already fallen short of the mark, so he asks Simon Peter, “Do you have philia love for me?” and Simon Peter replies, “Yes, Lord, I have philia love for you” (“I like and admire you”). This love is good enough for Jesus.
And what’s more, it’s not only good enough, it’s enough for Jesus to put Peter in charge of his followers, as the first Pope.